Connecticut Town Sells its 1967 DARE Corvette for $25,000

If you ever wanted to buy a C2 Corvette for a song, you just missed a good chance.

Over the weekend, the town of Colchester, Conn., auctioned off its 1967 Corvette that had been used for nearly 20 years as the police department’s DARE vehicle.

The car – which was showing 68,967 miles – featured a patriotic red, white and blue paint job and sold for a very reasonable $25,500 Sunday during the Colchester Lions Club’s annual Pumpkins and Pooches Festival.

A police officer from Long Island bought the car and plans to restore it, officials said – though the car looks pretty sharp as is in a pre-auction video shot while it was being washed for the first time in a long while.

The proceeds from the auction will go into a reserve account used for other purchases by the town.

DARE – or Drug Abuse Resistance Education – is a program that aims to teach fifth graders the dangers of using illegal drugs.

Colchester switched to a different drug awareness program last year, however, and its unique Corvette – which has an American flag painted on the hood with the names of DARE business sponsors on the back – was no longer needed by the police department.

“It’s been sitting back here kind of rotting for the last few years,” Fleet Maintenance Supervisor Steve Sharpe said.

“It was sitting for a while,” Sharpe added. “It got to the point where I told the police they probably wouldn’t want to be taking it on long trips to events across the state.”

Colchester police seized the car in 1994 from a drug dealer and used it to promote DARE’s message at parades, festivals, school assemblies, and other public gatherings.

Mitch Talley has loved Corvettes since he was just 8 years old. He's owned 10 Corvettes since 1983, including examples from the third, fourth, fifth, and sixth generations. His goal is to own first, second, and seventh generation cars someday. He and his son, Chris, also a Corvette enthusiast, served as Captains of the 2014 Georgia Corvette Caravan.